The Connection Between Social Support and the Psychological Well-Being and Quality of Life of the Children of Killed and Missing Croatian War Veterans

U novije vrijeme sve su više zastupljeni pojmovi kvalitete života i dobrobiti, ne samo kao stručni pojmovi, nego kao i pojmovi u svakodnevnoj upotrebi. Ljudima je važno da ostvare svoje potpune potencijale, da se ostvare kao osobe, da imaju dobar život te da znaju da se mogu osloniti na nečiju pomoć i podršku. Dosadašnja istraživanja ukazuju na postojanje pozitivne povezanosti socijalne podrške prijatelja i značajnih drugih sa psihološkom dobrobiti (Leutar i Oršulić, 2015; Zvizdić, 2015). Također, Šincek i Vuletić (2011) izvještavaju o povezanosti socijalne podrške s kvalitetom života. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost socijalne podrške sa psihološkom dobrobiti i kvalitetom života djece poginulih i nestalih hrvatskih branitelja. Socijalna podrška se promatrala iz tri izvora: percipirana socijalna podrška obitelji, prijatelja i značajnih drugih. U online istraživanju sudjelovalo je 186 djece poginulih i nestalih hrvatskih branitelja. Sudionici su ispunjavali Skalu osobne dobrobiti, Skalu psihološke dobrobiti, Multidimenzionalnu skalu percipirane socijalne podrške. Socijalna podrška prijatelja i socijalna podrška značajnih drugih pokazali su se kao najznačajniji pozitivni prediktori psihološke dobrobiti. Najznačajnijim pozitivnim prediktorom kvalitete života se pokazala socijalna podrška prijatelja, potom razina obrazovanja, socijalna podrška značajnih drugih i radni status. Socijalna podrška obitelji nije se pokazala kao značajni prediktor psihološke dobrobiti i kvalitete života.In recent time, terms such as quality of life and well-being are not only represented as professional terms, but also everyday ones. It is important for people to achieve their full potential and accomplish themselves as persons, as well to have a good life, while knowing that they can rely on someone's help and support. Present research point to the existence of positive connection between the social support by friends and significant others with psychological well-being (Leutar i Oršulić, 2015; Zvizdić, 2015). Likewise, Šincek and Vuletić report about connection between social support and quality of life. The goal of this research is to question the connection between social support with psychological well-being and quality of life of children whose parents are killed and missing Croatian war veterans. The social support was observed through three sources: perceived social support for families, friends and significant others. There were 186 kids whose parents are killed or missing Croatian war veterans taking part in an online research. The participants were asked to fill: Personal Well-Being Index, PWI, Scale of Psychological Well-Being, Multidimensional Scale Perceived Social Support, MSPSS. Social support from friends and the social support of significant others have proven to be the most significant predictors of psychological well-being. The most significant positive predictors of life quality were social support from friends, then the level of education, social support of significant others and finally the work status. Social support from the family did not show up as a significant predictor of psychological well-being and quality of life